Root Causes of Addiction

It is often difficult to pinpoint the root cause(s) of addiction. In my Social Innovation class, we learned that people often identify causes which are actually just symptoms. By solving these these symptoms, however, often do not solve the actual problem. The process of distinguishing symptoms from causes can be a difficult one. In relation to drug abuse in Vancouver, people often point to many symptoms:

• The availablity of drugs
• The lack of post trauma counselling programs
• The unrealistic time pressures of treatment centres
• Lack of education on drug prevention

The list of symptoms go on; however, when taking a step back, what is the actual problem here? Majority of drug addictions are due to trauma and mental illnesses. Does this mean that society doesn’t have proper resources to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS)? Or is it that we do not properly classify those who suffer from PTSS and other mental illnesses? This problem can also be stemmed from the increasing peer pressures at school, or a lack of drug prevention programs.

It is hard to draw the line that distinguishes causes from symptoms of drug addiction. In my opinion, there are several factors that lead to the many symptoms. In order to identify them one would really have to break down the symptoms. The three that stand out most in my mind are mental illness, trauma, and early exposure to risks.

Early exposure to risks could be due to the fact that many children are not properly educated on the consequences of drugs, or to the fact that many children live in underprivledged areas where they have no other exposures. This could be led by poverty, which could be one of the underlying factors of addiction.

Mental illness and trauma could be due to the fact that some areas do not have the proper resources to diagnose these problems, or the proper resources to treat them. This could lead to a feedback loop where it feeds the addiction which then in turn feeds the illnesses. Could inadequate health care be the root of this problem?

These are only some ideas as to what the root cause of drug addiction may be. What I am listing could be symptoms as well, but that I cannot find out until I explore further. Through researching for solutions I am hoping to get a little more enlightenment on the causes as well.